"Five years on an iPhone before I found out it can log expenses automatically": a Spanish student's expense-tracking app, and a crowded category

Mi€sencial is a Spanish-language expense app whose selling point is that once you pay with Apple Pay, the payment is logged automatically. It runs a TikTok account that posts "iPhone could log expenses automatically all along" every day. In Nov 6 it reached #18 on Spain's App Store finance Top Grossing chart. But after more than three months on the store it has only 11 ratings. At least four or five other Spanish apps offer the same selling point, and they launched earlier and are bigger. This piece explains how it charted, how easy that chart is to crack, and why I wouldn't recommend trying to compete in Spanish.

A 24-second video

In Oct 2026 13, TikTok account @victorgromero posted a 24-second vertical video with the caption:

Así apunto mis gastos en menos de 5 segundos y de forma automática #erasmus #gastos #miesencialapp (This is how I log every expense in under 5 seconds, automatically)

By Nov 6 the video had 137k views, 6,729 likes and 3,125 saves (TikTok, 11-06). The save count is about half the like count, which suggests many people saved it to try later. The most-liked comment (312 likes) says:

Tú eres el creador de la app seguro ✨ (You must be the creator of this app)

Other comments below say "it's paid, bro", "bro, don't charge me 1 euros a week", and "Fintonic is the one that's really automatic".

The account bio reads "Te ayudo a ahorrar mientras gastas / Yo lo hago con Miesencial" (I help you save while you spend. I do it with Miesencial). It has 857 followers and 116 posts. Among them are travel videos like "Day 47, today we're going to the Dolomites, here's what the first day cost", tagged #erasmus #pavia. It looks like the personal account of a Spanish student on exchange in Pavia, Italy, that was later turned into an app promotion account (inference). The developer is listed as Victor Garcia, who has only built this one app. I haven't verified whether the account owner is the developer, but the commenters have already concluded that it is.

What it is

A personal expense-tracking app in Spanish, launched at the end of July 2026. The first line of its store page reads: "Most expense apps fail for the same reason: you have to log everything yourself, it's a chore, and by day three you stop." Its answer is to minimise manual input:

• Automatic Apple Pay logging: using the "transactions" automation in iOS's built-in Shortcuts app, every Apple Pay charge pushes the amount and merchant into the app;
• Voice: press and say "menu 12 euros";
• Double-tap the back of the iPhone, or press the Action Button, to log an entry immediately;
• AI auto-categorisation, a monthly overview, and travel mode.

It doesn't connect to your bank account. One video is dedicated to explaining "why Mi€sencial doesn't connect to your bank".

Pricing: the free version only includes 3 categories. Premium is 49,99€ / year, the couples plan Pareja is 89,99€ / year, and the family plan Hogar is 209,99€ / year (pricing page on the website). In Oct 26, the 1.2.2 version added a cheaper tier without AI. The paywall is aggressive: a one-star review from Oct 14 says "outrageous price, and they hide it by showing it per week. The so-called discount price is exactly the same as the original".

How big is it really?

Tiny.

• Ratings: 11 total worldwide, 10-28 of them in 9, and only 2 more added over 10 days (App Store, 11-06).
• Charts: Spain's finance Top Grossing chart, ranked #10-28, #43,10-30, #21,11-01, #67,11-02, #21,11-05, #52,11-06 and #18, jumping dozens of places a day. Switzerland's and Germany's finance Top Grossing charts also picked it up for a day or two, ranking below #100. It has never entered the overall chart.
• How easy this chart is to crack: on the same day, #12 on Spain's finance Top Grossing chart, Boti, had only 19 ratings, and #10, Rata y Fina, had 236. On this chart, a few annual subscriptions a day is enough to reach the top 20. Rankings that jump this much suggest it has only single-digit subscriptions per day (inference).

So "getting into the top 20 of the grossing chart" sounds like quietly making money, but in fact Spain's finance Top Grossing chart has a very low bar.

Where users come from

Almost all of it came from that one TikTok account. No media covered it, nobody mentioned it on X in 90 days, the Instagram account has only 1 followers, and the store name is an invented word, "Mi€sencial", without a term users would search for like "control de gastos" (expense control). Store search brings in little traffic (inference).

The account's content comes in two types:

1. Hook + screen demo: "Auto-logs your spending in under 5 seconds" (10-13.1M views), "100% of spending logged automatically" (10-3.04M), "Used iPhone this long and just found out it can log spending this fast" (10-1.81M), "Five years on iPhone and I only just found out it can log my spending for me" (11-01). The Sep 28 one, "Control your spending before it controls you," also has 44k views, so it was already running in late September.
2. batch-produced photo carousels: "How to save €1700/month for a Cartier / Rolex / trip to Japan" and "How Michael Scott, Breaking Bad and Spider-Man would track spending with Mi€sencial". In mid-October it posted 5 to 10 a day, each getting a few hundred views, which looks like batch-testing hooks.

The timing lines up: the 10-13 video blew up, then 10-20 and 10-21 brought 4 five-star reviews, with lines like "moved to Madrid, it's exactly what I needed", "I travel a lot", "used the free version, tried the annual plan, just paid for it". That matches the scripts in the videos about Erasmus, moving and travel. By 10-28 it was on the charts. I have not verified whether these 4 five-star reviews were incentivized or written by friends.

Who it's competing with

It's crowded. "Auto-log Apple Pay payments" wasn't invented here. Since 2026 a whole batch of indie Spanish-language expense trackers has used it as the selling point, and all of them rely on the iOS Shortcuts "Transaction" automation available since iOS 17. Anyone can build it.

The only real difference is packaging: its name carries a €, it has couple and family plans, and a travel mode.

What about other countries?

The obvious idea: Spanish is saturated, so move to Italian, French, Portuguese or German. Checking the Finance Top Grossing charts in those storefronts on Nov 6, there are already quite a few indie expense trackers launched since 2025 October of last year and ranked in the top 60 (App Store, 11-06):

• Italy: Spendix (157 ratings, #27), QuantoSpendo (68, #29), Pennli (#15);
• France: Kakeibo (63, #5), Florine (465, #16);
• Brazil: Visor, Kontto, Calen, Thor, PingDin, plus Parker's Portuguese version;
• Germany: the German versions of Rata y Fina and Flowfy, two apps from Spanish developers, are already charting. A Polish developer's Pennli charts in Germany, Italy and Brazil at once.

I haven't verified whether all of these lead with auto-logging Apple Pay. What is clear: the "small language + new expense app + subscription" route is already being taken in every language, and many developers are launching in several at once.

If it were you

C: worth learning from, but don't compete on expense tracking. Mi€sencial is itself a follower. It caught a selling point that filled up within two or three months. It charted because of an account that posts videos every day, plus a category where a dozen ratings can reach the top 20. The method is what's worth copying, and that method doesn't depend on expense tracking.

Who it suits: a solo builder who can finish an app and is willing to post TikToks daily about their own real life (studying abroad, moving, travel, a first salary). Ideally you belong to a small group you're part of, like exchange students, young workers, or flatmates.

Who it doesn't suit: anyone planning a Spanish-language expense tracker (Rata y Fina, Margen and Parker are all early and big); anyone who thinks "auto-log Apple Pay" is a moat (it's built into iOS and anyone can wire it up, users can build it themselves); anyone wanting mass downloads without making videos.

How to build it: stop making a general expense tracker. Find a scenario where "Shortcuts / iOS automation saves the user a step" but few indie apps have claimed it yet, such as splitting rent with flatmates, multi-currency spending for exchange students, or a shared couple's account. Make a narrow app that can be demoed in 5 seconds. Copy its pricing structure: a free tier with one obvious limit, an annual plan with a trial, and a higher couple or family tier to raise revenue per user. State prices clearly. Don't copy its weekly price display. One-star reviews and comments like "bro, €1 a week?" come from exactly that.

How to get users: one real-person account, one hook repeated to death: "I've used my iPhone for X years and just found out it can…" plus screen recording, 20 to 30 seconds. In parallel, test topics with photo carousels ("How to save for Y on a salary of X"), several a day, and turn whichever gets traction into a video. Set the video scenario to match your target users. Mi€sencial's videos showed exchange students, and its later five-star reviews came from people moving or travelling often. Put the words users search for in the app name.

When to move: once a "iOS automation + one app" selling point goes viral on TikTok and similar apps fill the screen, Spain took only two or three months (Margen blew up in July and had about a dozen competitors by November). Pick a scenario, then aim to ship within 6 to 8 weeks and start posting.

Signs you've misread it: ① your chosen scenario has three or more apps launched in the last six months with the same automation, showing up in store search for feature terms; ② after 30 videos, your best one has under 10k views, meaning the hook isn't landing; ③ looking back at Mi€sencial: if its ratings climbed past 2027 early in 100 and it held a top-20 rank, Spanish expense tracking still has room, and this piece underrated it.